When you’re young (and a little naive), it’s common to feel invincible when it comes to your body. Staying up late, maybe partying too much, working out with incorrect form — you might not feel some of these at the moment, but boy, do they catch up to you. While those examples might seem obvious, people in this Reddit thread are sharing the things that seemed minor in the moment but ended up having lasting effects on their bodies long-term. Here is what some shared:
Note: Some of these responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
1.“I was a college athlete. We were told that pain was temporary, but pride was forever. I’ve had three orthopedic surgeries, one of which wasn’t successful and from which I went septic. I was diagnosed with arthritis before I was 20. My knees are shot. I have more cracks, pops, and stiffness than people 10+ years older than me. As it turns out, the pain is forever and comes with compounding interest.”
2.“Acne. I thought it was something that would go away after your teens, but it’s still destroying my face a decade later, and nothing seems to work. It’s most likely genetic since the other women in my family still suffer from it. Even if there was a cure, I still have the permanent scarring since dark skin tends to scar worse than light skin.”
3.“Listening to music WAY too loud with headphones on when younger. It definitely leads to hearing loss and hearing aids.”
4.“Obstructive sleep apnea. When you already know you have some mental troubles, you think that explains your drowsiness and low mood and don’t look for more issues. It does not only hurt your cardiovascular system; it may slowly destroy your life. If you snore at night and/or feel sleepy all day, go see your doctor.”
5.“I had breast implants removed after decades. It left a slightly concave space because, over time, the ribs get deformed from the pressure of the implants.”
6.“Not getting enough sleep.”
7.“Bad posture, rounding shoulders to minimize my chest. Now I have neck pain, shoulder pain, and lower back pain, ugh.”
8.“Pregnancy. I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this belly that wouldn’t go away. Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post-op of having my diastasis recti corrected. Do you know that center line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8-inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. The belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat I couldn’t lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.”
9.“Waxing my eyebrows to the same thin shape for 20 years”.
—LV4Q
10.“Casual drinking. I’m 7 months pregnant, and it’s amazing how much weight I’ve lost and how drastically different my face looks in pictures. I’m not going back to drinking after giving birth.”
11.“Wearing tight shoes everyday gave me bunions, but I didn’t realize the cause until years later.”
12.“A few years of Crossfit have left me with permanent knee and shoulder pain. Heavy weights shouldn’t be lifted for time; your form inevitably goes to hell, and you set yourself up for joint injuries.”
13.“Being kept 100% out of the sun as a kid. I wasn’t given vitamin D supplements either, so my bones are pretty fragile and break easily, and my enamel is delicate and shears off if my teeth close too hard. My body never sequestered calcium properly as a kid, and I can do nothing about it as an adult. My mom thought she was protecting me from skin cancer, but she was really dooming me to a life of bone fractures and bad teeth.”
14.“My parents had the kids do a lot of manual labor, starting when I was only 5 or 6. It was not just helping in the yard but doing actual landscaping work. My brother and I once had to haul rocks in those 10lbs buckets from a dumpster to the egress windows 300 yards away. Being so little, we had no idea about posture, lifting with your legs, etc. We both have chronic back, shoulder, knee, and neck pain and have the beginning symptoms of arthritis. We’re only 21 and 26 now. Makes me mad that I hurt myself when I was so little, doing work that the adults should have been doing.”
15.“Burn out. I was so afraid of losing everything that I stretched myself to my actual collapse. Five years later, I can still feel the damage my brain sustained from that period of my life, and I still lost everything and had to start over. If I could give any advice to people out there — if you are burning out with no projected relief in sight, do yourself a favor and know when to cut your losses so you can use your time and energy restrategizing.”
16.“Smoking for almost 10 years. Obviously, I knew that smoking was never going to do anything but hurt my lungs. But it’s been almost two years since I smoked, and I still have terrible lung capacity. Another is not learning healthy exercising habits when I was younger. I wish my parents made me play sports even if I hated it. I think that’s another part of why I get so easily winded and fatigued when trying to work out now. It’s hard for me to breathe while also focusing on moving my body correctly. For example, I subconsciously hold my breath when I do planks or hold a stretch.”
17.“Working at night hours alters the internal sleeping cycle. If your body gets used to it, you gain a passive energy boost at night and the opposite during day hours, even if you have regular sleep patterns.”
18.“Psychiatric drugs. It’s terrible how easily they are prescribed and how doctors do not explain side effects.”
Is there anything else you could add to this list? If so, share it with me in the comments below!
